Genetic modifiers can cause those colors to become lighter, striped, mottled or spotted, or all mixed together with white markings and spots. The following are some of the more common colors and patterns and how to recognize and describe them.
Basic Canine Coat Colors
Black is true black, like a black Labrador Retriever and black Cocker Spaniel. A few breeds can be a rusty black (called seal in Boston Terriers). Black dogs have black noses and dark eyes.
Red ranges from dark mahogany red to light orange. The color becomes more intense as the dog matures from puppy to adult. Nose and eye colors vary.
Yellow ranges from fox-red (dark reddish orange) to nearly white. Most yellows have some shading in the coat caused by a modifying gene. Most Golden Retrievers and all yellow Labs are yellow. Usually the eyes are dark and the nose is black.
Dilute and Recessive Coat Colors in Dogs
All of these colors remain the same from birth to adulthood.
Blue is a grey-blue color, always accompanied by a grey nose and light-colored eyes. This is found in Great Danes, American Pit Bull Terriers and several other breeds.
Brown incudes any shade of brown, chocolate or liver, such as Irish Water Spaniels and chocolate Labradors. The nose will always be brown.
Fawn (also called mouse grey or Isabella) has many names, depending on the breed. It is a greyish tan shade, different from the “fawn” used to describe many yellow dogs. The nose will be similar to the coat and eyes will be light colored. This is the color of a Weimaraner.
Some gene combinations result in unusual pale colors. These are always accompanied by light-colored eyes and noses. They have many different names, depending on the breed and color: silver buff, sedge, deadgrass, champagne, lilac and so on.
Patterns Affecting the Dog's Base Color
A dog may have tan markings on the sides of the face, a spot over each eye, tan triangles on the chest, and tan on the lower legs and under the tail. The Rottweiler is black and tan. When found with white markings as in the Bernese Mountain Dog, it is called tricolor.
A brindle (striped) dog can have just a few stripes or be covered with stripes. Brindle can occur with any base color, but if the dog appears black, the stripes may be hard to see. In a black and tan dog with a gene for brindle, only the tan markings will have visible stripes.
A merle dog has part of the coat the regular color and part of the coat diluted in a random series of patches. Some dogs may be almost all the base color with only a few flecks of the dilute color, while others may be the opposite. Merle acts on any base color. Many Australian Shepherds are merle. In Dachshunds, merle is referred to as dapple.
In a double merle, both colors are lightened: for example, black becomes blue and blue becomes white. Double merles are often born deaf and/or blind and may die as puppies.
Some dogs have a face mask. A mask always is the same as the nose color. Boxers, Great Danes and Mastiffs all have masks.
Dogs with White Markings
Any of the above colors and patterns can be accompanied by white markings that are present from birth. White is not a color in itself, but an absence of pigment.
Irish spotting varies from a bit of white on the toes and/or chest all the way to a full blaze on the face, white chest, white neck collar and white on the legs and tail tip, but no other white. The Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever and Boston Terrier are Irish spotted.
Splash white or piebald can range from the same as the maximum Irish spotting to nearly all white with just a bit of color left on the ears or base of tail. Some Boston Terriers are splash white and have white faces, white heads or are even mostly white with some dark spots. This common pattern is found in many breeds.
Completely white dogs are either the most extreme form of splash white, with almost or even all of the color missing (such as the white Bull Terrier), or the very palest of the cream (yellow) color (for example, White Shepherds and Samoyeds).
Dog Coat Colors That Change Over Time
Ticking causes spots to form on a white base coat. Pups are born white and the spots gradually appear, as with Dalmatians. Ticking causes freckles and flecks of color in many breeds.
Roan causes white and colored hairs to mix together instead of separating into spots. Like ticking, the roaned areas start out white and the colored hairs gradually appear over time. This is very different from roan horses, which are born roan and stay that color. Many dogs, such as Bluetick Coonhounds and roan Cocker Spaniels, are both ticked and roaned. The cartoon Huckleberry Hound is blue because he is a “blue(tick)” hound.
Black and tan dogs are born that color, but sometimes the black is gradually replaced by tan, leaving only a black saddle over the back and face, as in many German Shepherds and hound breeds. They are still called black and tan.
Something similar happens in Poodles and a few other breeds like Kerry Blue Terriers. The birth color gradually lightens to the adult color. A silver Poodle and a Kerry Blue are both born black and have black noses.
Agouti and sable are found in wolves and other wild canines. A sable dog is yellow or red with black-tipped hairs. Agouti is a color where dark hairs have lighter bands, creating a heavily shaded effect. Agouti is the only color allowed in Norwegian Elkhounds and Keeshonds.
When these various genes intermingle in one dog, the colors can be amazing. Dachshunds in particular come in a huge variety of combinations found in few other pure breeds.
Different breeds use different names for colors, resulting in exotic descriptions like belton, grizzle, champagne, biscuit, apricot, lemon, wheaten, bronze, badger, mouse and wild boar. But underneath it all, the basic colors are still black, red or yellow.
Sources
Little, Clarence C. The Inheritance of Coat Color in Dogs. New York: Howell Book House, 1957.
Whitney, Leon F. How to Breed Dogs. New York: Howell Book House, 1973.
Willis, Dr. Malcom B. Genetics of the Dog. New York: Howell Book House, 1989.
Terry McNamee - As a community newspaper reporter for nearly 30 years, Terry McNamee won many regional, provincial and national awards for her writing.
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